So, it's been a while . . . .

Sorry about that--I decided I needed a bit of a break, and the blog was included in that, but I'm back now, so be forewarned.

First off, today's Saturday Sky:


And wouldn't you know it, not two minutes after I take this picture, the sun starts trying to come out!

For the last week and a half, the forecast has changed almost hourly, from sunny and warm to sleet and snow and rain, to something else. I think the weather men here are probably all bald right now after trying to figure out what this latest storm system was going to do. It ended up being a lot of rain last night, and I think that's all we'll have. The temp has steadily crept up all this week, and last night when it was raining at its hardest, it was almost 60 degrees. No chance for snow there! I have the window open right now, and it's very nice out.

I had this week off, and it's been so nice to be able to relax and separate myself from all the holiday hoo-hah. I find myself already starting to dread going back to work, but whatta ya gonna do--a girl's gotta have a roof over her head. Maggie has loved it--she's been glued to my side all week, and the few times I've left she's had a panicked look on her face like she would never see me again if I walked out the door. (Boy, is she gonna be surprised come Tuesday morning.) I've basically stayed at home the whole time, except for going over to Missy's a couple of times. Once we went wine shopping, and the other afternoon I took her my Babe wheel and gave her a spinning lesson. I'm not sure I did very well, but I think she'll get the hang of it soon--she's a pretty smart girl.

I had definite fiber goals when I started this vacation--finish the projects I had started--the cashmere scarf, the socks, and a new project, a scarf made from Cherry Tree Hill Jumbo Loop Mohair in the colorway "Champlain Sunset:"


This yarn is so gorgeous, it absolutely glows. I'm doing it in a very open knit so that the loops show up better, and I'm almost finished. It may end up being a little too scratchy to wear right around my neck, but it will be beautiful wrapped around a coat or jacket collar. I'm really excited to get this done.

The cashmere scarf is still not done, and the socks are taking forever. A lot of the problem is that I have continued to have problems with my PDA, and I've spent a lot of time trying to get that straightened out. Thank goodness for the internets--after googling several issues, I finally found some things that would help me out. Unfortunately, I still ended up deciding that the only way to fix the problem was to reformat the device and start all over with fresh software installs. I started that Thursday evening and finished yesterday around 6 pm--a total of at least 12 hours. Right now I'm cautiously optimistic that everything is back to normal. I think there was a bad file in there somewhere that was causing the problem. And yes, 12 hours is a lot of time to spend trying to restore a PDA, but you have to understand that my Palm is always with me or sitting next to me--it's an addiction, but I have my whole life in there and I use it constantly, so when it's not working properly, I'm obsessed until I can get it back to rights again.

I've not done any spinning this week other that showing Missy how to do it, so I'm still working on the accompanying skein for this one:


I hope to work on that later this weekend.

Christmas weekend I did a little dyeing and came up with this:


I was aiming for something Christmasy and ended up with something between Christmas, Valentine's Day, and Easter:


This one ended up as a gift to Missy--if nothing else, she can use it to make something for the Girl (who, BTW, is absolutely a heartbreaker. I want to carry her off with me and never give her back!).

Oh, and remember that wall hanging that I was working on, what, four or five months ago? Yeah, it's still not done. I have to finish it this weekend, because it was supposed to be a Christmas gift, and I feel really bad that I was too lazy to get it done on time.

So, now I'm caught up. I hope everyone had a good Christmas and will have a safe and happy New Year's.